EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 Topic Box 6.4 Tourism and Recreational Pressures The European Commission in its 2017 Environmental Implementation Review of Ireland highlighted the opportunity to make better use of the significant potential of nature for tourism by better managing and protecting natural sites (EU, 2017). Tourism and the public demand for access to nature creates many opportunities to showcase and nurture an appreciation for nature. The challenge is to realise these benefits without damaging nature. Fáilte Ireland’s Overseas Holidaymakers Attitudes Survey 14 studied the expectations of holidaymakers in Ireland. It identified that nature is ranked fourth for exceeding expectations, with scenery ranked second. The survey results highlight our culture and landscape as Ireland’s unique selling points. Biodiversity loss damages Ireland’s habitats and landscapes and hence their amenity value. This makes a strong case for implementing measures to safeguard and enhance the environmental assets on which tourism depends. Fáilte Ireland prepared an Environmental Surveying and Monitoring Strategy as part of the Wild Atlantic Way Operational Programme in 2015 (Fáilte Ireland, 2015). It describes the purpose of this strategy as ‘to work with and demonstrate to our stakeholders and partners that we are committed to the sustainable development of the Wild Atlantic Way, and to be able to pre-empt and avoid environmental effects in the future should they occur’. An external monitoring group oversaw and guided the monitoring programme over its lifetime (2015-2019). In 2018, Ireland published its tourism masterplan entitled Experiencing the Wild Heart of Ireland (DCHG, 2018). The plan is a product of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Fáilte Ireland’s strategic partnership, established with the shared aim of enhancing and promoting Ireland’s national parks and nature reserves. The plan sets out a framework to guide the phased development of enhanced visitor centre experiences and improved visitor facilities at the parks, based on research into international best practice, and aims to strategically plan for conservation and biodiversity while balancing the impact of increasing visitor numbers to the sites. 5. Responses The Natura 2000 Network and Beyond EU nature directives facilitate the legal protection of habitats and species. Implementing the EU Habitats and Birds Directives across Europe involved the creation of a network of sites for the legal protection of EU listed habitats and species (as opposed to all other nationally protected species), the Natura 2000 network. 15 The network consists of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) protected under the Birds Directive and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) protected under the Habitats Directive. 14 http://www.failteireland.ie/Utility/News-Library/Latest-Overseas- Holidaymaker-Survey-Confirms-Satis.aspx 15 https://www.npws.ie/protected-sites While this network of Natura 2000 sites provides the primary means of protecting our most important and most vulnerable wildlife, the areas outside these designations also play a significant role in species and habitat protection and are afforded some legal protection through European and/or national legislation. Table 6.2 and Figures 6.7 and 6.8 outline the areas of land designated as SACs and SPAs in Ireland. Table 6.2  Natura 2000 sites designated as SACs and SPAs in Ireland (Source: NPWS) NATURA 2000 SITES AREA (HA) SACs 1,696,559 SPAs 597,227 SACs and SPAs 1,950,239 a a Combined number does not equal the sum of the individual numbers because of overlap in the designated areas. 140